The Reason Why Fujima Loses to Maki
by tokiwashojo
Summary: After watching Slam Dunk again, there is no reason for Fujima to lose to Maki. Maki is stronger but Fujima's faster. But why does Fujima always lose? Maybe Shoyo's not as good as Kainan? Maybe. This is my own version of why he loses to the Kainan captain.


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The Reason Why Fujima Loses to Maki_

_Prologue: First Impressions

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By Nanako

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1st year

Practice Game of Shoyo and Kainan

Hanagata patted Fujima's shoulder. "You'll be fine Kenji."

"But Toru, this is my first game..."

Hanagata shook his head. "The coach let you in the starting five, picking you over our sempais. There's obviously something in you that led our coach to make that choice."

"But what if I mess up?"

"You won't."

"But this is Kainan we're going up against!"

Hanagata was about to say something when their current captain, who had overheard the entire conversation, interrupted. "Fujima, since Kainan is our opponent, you should be more fired up."

"But..."

The captain gripped his shoulders as he leaned down to be at eye level with Fujima. "Listen Fujima, you're a boy of unlimited potential, that is why we let you in the starting line up even if you're only a freshman. You shouldn't get nervous when something challenging comes your way, but rather, look for a way to overcome it. Besides, basketball is a sport which you should enjoy, not fear."

He straightened and ran his hand through his hair, but kept eye contact with the freshman point guard as he continued, "Soon the torch will be passed down to you, and the flame to defeat Kainan should be kept alive. Remember that in Kanagawa, only Shoyo's capable of throwing their team off their high horse."

Fujima was about to voice out more of his discomfort but immediately thought otherwise as the captain's words sank in. So he took a deep breath and forced a confident smile on his lips. "I'll do my best Captain Uchiya."

"That's the spirit!" the senior said as he gave Fujima a pat on the back. "I'm looking forward to seeing you kick their sorry asses out there on court," he added with a wink.

Then he turned to the entire team in the locker room and clapped his hands to get their attention. "Let's get ready guys! The practice game with Kainan is about to begin!"

* * *

Maki left the locker room last. It was his first game playing with the all time champions – Kainandai High School basketball team.

He had been playing basketball for as long as he can remember, and was pretty good at the sport. But surely, high school basketball was way different than his previous experiences. He didn't show it, but this made him both nervous and excited at the same time.

Another thing that made him nervous was that he was the only freshman in the starting line up. He didn't want to become the weak link of the reigning champs.

Their coach had already warned him before he joined the team that for a Kainan player, the basketball court was like a battlefield. You let your guard down for a split second and you're gonna lose.

"You can have all the fun you like only if you're not a part of this team," Coach Takatoh had reminded them after every practice. "You must never relax when you play in THIS team. And remember, you must always look for your enemy counterpart's weakness and use this against them..."

Enemy's weakness huh?

Maki took a deep breath as he followed his teammates out of the locker room to the gym to face the Shoyo team.

And when the two teams had arrived and settled down on their respective bleachers, one member of the other team caught Maki's eye. He reminded Maki of a boy, a sweet, charming yet innocent and gullible boy. But looks could be very deceiving.

Shoyo couldn't have accepted a weak player for their starting line up could they? They were after all, Kainan's #1 contender for the championship since time immemorial.

And Maki was right.

The boy, who was obviously the point guard of Shoyo, was pitted against Maki. And it was then that Maki confirmed that this boy wasn't in Shoyo's starting line up for nothing.

With his lithe frame, the "boy" was able to match Maki move per move. And Maki had a hard time dealing with him. Whenever Maki blocked, he could always break through, and whenever he blocked, Maki found that he could barely break through the tough defense.

After the first half, Maki was already getting exasperated with himself. What was wrong with him? No one has ever eluded his defense this easily before and he didn't have any difficulty in getting through anyone's defense.

"K'so!" he muttered, more to himself than to others.

But his captain had keen eyes and ears. He had seen how the Shoyo freshman had defeated their point guard in more ways than one. And he knew that it was taking its toll on Maki.

And yet the captain just smiled and didn't do anything, neither did their coach.

If Maki was going to make it through this, he had to do it on his own.

And so, when the second half started, Maki received no words of advice nor did he get any sort of encouragement. He had to survive on his own if he wanted to get through his first game.

Look for the enemy's weakness...the enemy's weakness...the enemy's weakness...those words from their coach resounded in Maki's ears the moment he stepped back into the court.

He had underestimated the opponent just because the Shoyo freshman seemed weak, that was a mistake on his part. Maki's brows furrowed as his opponent approached, grim determination etched on the Kainan point guard's handsome features.

The "boy" from Shoyo was fast, and soon, Maki found himself defending against him again.

Maki tightened his defense around the other freshman, forcing him to break his rhythm. But the other freshman was stubborn. No matter how tight Maki's defense was, he would always go against him. And Maki was getting frustrated with the annoying persistence.

And then he saw it.

It was just a glimpse, but he was sure his captain was intentionally...bumping... his groin against the rival captain's backside.

A light blush spread across Maki's face, but it disappeared immediately as he was brought back to the reality that he had a very skillful point guard to defend against.

It was now or never. If it will work or not, he's worry about it later, right now was a good chance to try it.

As the other point guard pushed against him, prodding his defenses, Maki slowly rubbed his groin against the other boy's backside.

The Shoyo point guard blushed, paused and sprang to his right.

It was a small opening, but Maki saw it. It was the perfect opportunity and Maki couldn't help but smile as he quickly and accurately stole the basketball from his opponent's hands.

He had finally found his opponent's weakness.

* * *

"K'so!!"

Uchiya looked at Fujima and almost cringed at the way the locker in front of the freshman was dented. He needn't look at Fujima's hand to see how much he was hurting himself. Even the boy's best friend, Hanagata, had thought it wiser to leave him alone when he was in this condition.

And Uchiya thought so too, but he just couldn't leave his kouhai alone, now could he?

So he waited until everyone had left the locker room before making his move (no pun intended ;; ). Fujima had long since silenced, but his head was bowed down, a towel draped over it.

Uchiya approached silently, slowly and cautiously. He sat down beside Fujima and heard a soft sniff. Then he understood. He smiled and shook his head as he placed his hand on Fujima's head.

"I cried when we lost to Kainan on my first day too," he admitted softly. And when he felt Fujima still at his words, he continued, "Don't hold it back...it's alright to cry."

Fujima sniffed again and wiped his eyes, letting the tears fall freely.

"Feeling better?"

Fujima nodded slowly. "I'm sorry captain...We lost.... because of me..."

Uchiya shook his head. "We lost, but nobody is blaming it on you." He squeezed Fujima's shoulder, as a sign of assurance, before standing up. "You made me proud out there."

And when Fujima looked up at him, he continued, "You evenly matched with the person most likely to be the Kainan captain in the future. And that is something you should be proud of. Remember, every failure should be a reason for you to strive even harder."

Fujima nodded his head slowly and the captain waved his hand as he slung his bag over his shoulder. "I'll see you in practice tomorrow then Fujima kun."

And for the first time since the game ended, a small smile spread across Fujima's lips. "Ah... Thank you Uchiya san."

"You don't have to thank me, it's what a captain and sempai should be doing," he said as he opened the doors to the locker room and nodded to Fujima before leaving the locker room. He closed the doors behind him, leaving the freshman inside.

He sighed and he ran his hand through his hair as he walked away from the locker room. Fujima will be a good player and a good pillar for the Shoyo team. And that put his mind at ease as the retiring captain. If he was to retire, he was leaving the team in capable hands. Besides, Fujima still had years ahead of him to improve even more, not only in his technique but also in his game play.

Uchiya continued walking towards the gym exit, immersed in his thoughts.

Until suddenly...

"Uh...anou... sempai?"

Uchiya looked up and his eyes widened when he realized who was waiting near the gym exit.

"Gomen ne Uchiya, this kouhai of mine wanted to tag along, said he had to talk with a certain freshman in your team," the captain of the Kainan team said to Uchiya, flashing a friendly smile as he patted Maki's shoulder.

"Is that why you're here too Itsuki?"

"You know why I'm here Uchiya," retorted the other captain. He gestured to Maki and continued, "This is Maki Shinichi by the way, he's a freshman in my team."

"Yeah, your point guard, I remember..." Uchiya turned to Maki. "So Maki kun... who do you want to talk to? Most of my teammates already left though so I'm not sure if I can fulfill your request."

"Um... I saw the others leave, but I haven't seen him exit the gym yet..."

Uchiya thought for a while. Could it be? "Do you mean the point guard you were up against in the practice game?"

Maki nodded.

Uchiya smiled, "Fujima kun is still in our team's locker room. You can go meet him there."

Maki's face brightened. "Thank you Uchiya san!" And off he went, running towards the direction of the Shoyo team's locker room.

Uchiya shook his head as he looked at the Kainan captain. "What happened to your freshman Itsuki?"

Itsuki scratched his head and smiled innocently, shrugging as he replied, "How would I know? He was already waiting here when I came. And he wouldn't tell me anything except that he wanted to talk with that point guard of yours. And since I have no idea who that rookie of yours is, I told him to wait here with me, instead of barging into the Shoyo locker room."

"So... you came here just to wait with him?"

Itsuki raised an eyebrow and slung his arm over Uchiya's shoulder. "I came here to meet my lover," he whispered. But when Uchiya began blushing, Itsuki pulled away.

"Why...Why'd you...?" Uchiya stuttered as his lover pulled away.

Itsuki smiled. "If I begin showing just a bit of how much I really love you here in YOUR gym, in YOUR school, I would be murdered by all your fangirls the moment I step out of the gates."

Uchiya just shook his head and laughed as the two captains made for the gym exit.

* * *

Maki ran and ran towards the direction of the Shoyo locker room as fast as his feet could bring him. But when he stood in front of the door leading inside, catching his breath, he found that he could not bring himself to open the door.

So he stood there for a good fifteen minutes debating whether he should go in or not. And he spent another five minutes with his hand on the door knob, weighing the consequences of him entering the Shoyo locker room. Finally, he took a deep breath and decided to knock on the door.

"It's open!" a muffled voice said from the other side.

Again, Maki took a deep breath before he placed his palm on the doorknob and twisted it open.

And there in front of Maki Shinichi stood Fujima Kenji, fresh from the shower, clothed only with a white towel draped around his waist, his wet hair clinging to the sides of his head.

All Maki could do was stare and gape like a wide mouthed fish as Fujima used another towel to dry his hair, oblivious that the person in the locker room was a player from Kainan, not Shoyo.

"Are you just gonna stand there?" Fujima asked, still not looking at the person who had entered the locker room, and still assuming that it was one of his teammates.

"A...Anou..." Maki stuttered, not knowing how to introduce himself in front of a towel clad Fujima.

Upon hearing Maki's voice, Fujima stopped toweling his hair. Then he slowly pulled the towel off his head and took a good ten seconds to just turn around and face Maki. And when he saw the Kainan player, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped, mimicking how Maki looked like earlier. "YOU?!"

Maki swallowed a lump in his throat, he had a feeling this guy wasn't the calm type after losing. And he hoped he was wrong "Hi...um..."

But he was right. He wasn't able to finish what he was going to say as Fujima cut him off. "You're one of those smug Kainan players! You...you keep on bragging that you win every time! I know you win all the time, but don't brag about it! Damn it! We should have won! We should have won, you hear?! We shouldn't have lost! Why did we lose? Because of me! Because of me!!! ARGH!!"

It was then that he realized he was out of breath because he screamed everything without pausing to breathe and he had to stop ranting or else he will suffocate from lack of air.

And Maki chose that time to try again. "Feeling better?"

Fujima, hand resting on the locker for support, was wheezing as he tried to catch his breath back. "Yeah...that felt good..."

Maki smiled, he could ignore the fact that this guy insulted his team, but just this once. And besides, he did acknowledge that Kainan wins every time. That was praise enough from a player of their number one rival. He stretched out his hand to Fujima, "My name's Maki Shinichi by the way."

"And...I'm Fujima...Kenji," Fujima accepted the outstretched hand with a smile and introduced himself. When he finally got his breath back, he straightened from his awkward position and cocked his head to the side. "That was some tough defense to break sempai, and I have to admit, I really had a hard time out there."

And Maki felt his limbs go numb. "Sem...pai...?" he repeated dumbly.

Fujima raised a brow and asked, "You're an upper classman right?" And when Fujima saw Maki's face change color as the latter turned away from him did he realize that he made a mistake. "You're...you're a freshman too?!"

Maki nodded stiffly, facing the wall instead of Fujima, his face still ashen as the nth person made the mistake of referring to him as an upper classman instead of a freshman.

Fujima's hand immediately clamped around his mouth. "Oh my god, I'm sorry...that was mean of me..."

"It's...It's alright..." Maki sighed, slowly facing Fujima, a small forced smile on his lips. "You're just one of the few hundred people who made that mistake...I'm kinda used to it by now..."

Fujima noticed the slight hurt tone in Maki's voice and shook his head. "Nope, it's not alright. I'm gonna make up for being mean to you. Just wait here, I'll go change."

And with that, Fujima disappeared into the shower room and emerged a few minutes later, fully clothed. He slung is duffel bag over his shoulder as he turned to Maki. "Let's go."

Maki followed Fujima out of the locker room. "Where are we going?"

"The café near the school," Fujima replied, casting a sideward glance to his companion. "My treat."

"What if someone from your school sees us?"

Fujima raised a brow as they continued walking. "Why? Would that be a problem? We may be from rival teams, but it's not like we've got something to hide, so I don't think it really matters if they see us or not. Besides, at this time of day, no one hangs around there anymore."

"Ah..." Maki sighed. He followed Fujima silently as they were out of the gym.

* * *

Fujima raised a brow at the Kainan freshman as soon as they exited the Shoyo school gates. "Are you going to keep silent the whole way Maki?"

Maki turned to look at Fujima and shook his head. "Iie...I just can't find anything to talk about..."

Fujima chuckled. "Nothing?" He shook his head, "We're both freshmen point guards of the two best teams in Kanagawa, but the only other thing we know about each other is the other's name. That means we don't really know each other. So how can we not have anything to talk about?" He shook his head again as he opened the door to the café and led Maki inside. "Anything specific that you want?" he asked as they sat down facing each other, a small coffee table between them.

Maki shook his head. "You don't need to treat me..."

Fujima pouted at Maki just as a waitress came over to take their orders. "But I insist Maki!" he said, sounding like a kid.

Maki laughed good naturedly and reached out to mess Fujima's near perfect hair. "Hai hai, if you insist." He turned to the waitress, "Decaf coffee for me."

Fujima smiled and tried to fix his rumpled hair as he turned to the waitress. "I'll have the house special."

The waitress repeated their orders left the two afterwards.

Fujima tried fixing his hair again and somehow managed to turn it the way it was before Maki destroyed his hairdo. Then he stopped and looked at Maki, after noticing that the latter was looking at him. "What? Is there anything on my face?"

Maki shook his head. "No, you don't."

"Then why were you looking at me?"

Maki propped his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his two palms, looking at Fujima directly. "You seem different off court," he observed. He chuckled when he saw Fujima's brows furrow. "Don't take it the negative way Fujima. You just seem more...fun off court. You're too serious when you play basketball, not that I can really judge you since we've only played once."

"Hmph, speak for yourself," Fujima said, crossing his arms and leaning back against the cushions. "You're too headstrong on court, but you seem so timid off it."

"Me? Timid?"

Fujima nodded. "Hai. You seem to hold more authority on court than off it."

"Well...So do you," Maki pointed out as the waitress came back with their drinks.

"Hm...I don't deny that I AM very serious in a basketball. So that makes the two of us. But at least I'm as confident off it." Fujima took a sop of his drink and licked his lips as he sighed in content. "Ah...caramel, sweet as ever."

"Are you specifying that I'm not confident off court?" Maki asked as he added in a small amount of sugar and cream into his coffee, eyes never leaving Fujima as he did so.

"Well...you don't seem outspoken..."

"I'm not really the talkative type unless I'm talking with someone I'm comfortable with," Maki replied, sipping his coffee.

Fujima took another sip then played with his straw, drumming his fingers on the table slowly. "Well...you're talking more now than you were a while ago...Would that mean that you're comfortable with me?"

Maki shrugged. "Maybe." He smiled and eyed Fujima's drink. "Mind if I had a taste?"

"Oh not at all!" Fujima pushed the tall glass towards Maki, all too happy to share. "That's my favorite, I have it almost every week," he informed the Kainan player.

"Really? Is it that good?" Maki wrapped his lips around the straw and sipped. And as the sweet fluid reached his mouth he pulled his lips from the straw immediately. He stared at Fujima, "How can you drink something this...this...sweet?!"

"You don't like sweet things?"

Maki shook his head. "It's not that I dislike sweet things. But that drink is too sweet! Too much calories in one drink and drinking too much of that sweet stuff will make you a diabetic in no time. What's in that anyway?"

"I dunno..." Fujima said, pulling the glass back and examining its contents from outside. "All I know is that there's plenty of caramel inside it." He put his palms around the cold drink and sipped more of the blend before staring at Maki. "I exercise a lot you know, so I burn my calories, my body doesn't store that much."

"Oh?" Maki reached out under the table and lightly pinched a part of Fujima's abdominal area. "Then what do you call this?" he asked, smirking.

"Itai ..." Fujima complained, rubbing the spot where Maki pinched. "I'm sensitive there so don't go pinching near my navel." He stuck his tongue out at Maki. "I'm a 16 year old boy, it's normal to have some fat down there in that area."

"I don't," Maki declared proudly.

"Smug bastard..." Fujima grumbled. He reached out under the table and felt Maki's abdomen, and all he could feel was the firm muscles that rippled under his tanned skin when the Kainan player shifted his position so that Fujima could have better access to his abdomen. Fujima was touching Maki's skin through the latter's shirt, but he could imagine how it felt like without the shirt.

Hey...waaaaiiiittt a minute...Why the hell was he feeling another guy's abdomen out here in public?!

A light blush spread across Fujima's cheeks as he realized what he was doing and pulled his hand away from Maki's body. He looked down, avoiding Maki's eyes as he took a deep breath. What was wrong with him? Why did he do that and why is he now BLUSHING because of that?!

Fujima mentally kicked himself as he tried to steady his breathing.

And, only after he got his breathing back to normal and his brain working the way it should be, Fujima finally looked up at Maki. His jaw dropped to the table as he took in the sight of the guy in front of him.

In his haste to pull away from the other boy, he didn't realize that he hit the table by accident. Nothing happened to his almost empty glass, but the hit was enough to throw Maki's cup off its saucer and drop half of its contents on Maki's plain white shirt.

Maki was now wiping the coffee stains on his shirt with sheets of tissue paper as Fujima looked on like a goldfish.

"A...Anou...Maki...uhm..."

Maki looked up and smiled at Fujima, finally dropping the tissues on the table since it was obvious his shirt needed washing to get the coffee stain off. "I'm fine Fujima, no need to worry. It was an accident."

Fujima shook his head and finished his drink quickly. He grabbed some bills and left them on the table as he grabbed Maki's hand and pulled him out of the café. "My house isn't far. You can't go back to your place with that huge stain," he said, pulling the other with him.

"Do I have a say in this?"

"No," Fujima replied right away. "My fault, twice in a row. I certainly can't let you go home like that."

Maki just chuckled. "You're so stubborn. Fine, I'll go with you since I don't have any say in this anyway."

And the two made their way towards the Fujima residence.

* * *

Tbc

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Author's notes : This became waaaayyyy longer than I expected. And before anyone asks, no, Maki is not playing dirty. There's a reason to what he's doing to Fujima on court, and it's not seduction Go and try guessing for now . C&c's welcome and appreciated.


End file.
